I asked my colleague to supply use cases or examples of why processors
should be able to handle circular includes with the same semantics as in
W3C XML Schema (on which our include mechanism is modeled).
His reply included below.
Begin forwarded message:
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 11:47:12 -0500
From: Anli Shundi <ashundi@tibco.com>
To: "Amelia A. Lewis" <alewis@tibco.com>
Subject: RE: Circular includes
hm, I don't know what the original thinking was back then...
[i.e., the rationale of the W3C XML Schema WG --aal]
There are actual schemas that take advantage of this though.
UCC-net --and maybe OAGIS-- are examples.
One benefit I can think of is making each schema a valid
entry point. Example:
A includes B
A includes C
if B uses components defined in A (or C) it cannot be assessed
error-free as an entry point. Adding:
B includes A
makes B a valid entry point.
Amy!
--
Amelia A. Lewis
Architect, TIBCO/Extensibility, Inc.
alewis@tibco.com